Wednesday, 9 August 2006

PRACTICALLY PERFECT

Today is the 107th anniversary of the birth of Helen Lyndon Goff who was born on 9th August 1899 in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, and who - under the pen name P L Travers - wrote the series of books that introduced the world to Mary Poppins the magical nanny who, in 1964, became the heroine of the very different - but utterly charming and much-loved - Disney film of the same name…

A defining quality of the books which the film - despite the cumulative talents that helped create it - never entirely succeeded in capturing is a breathtaking sense of the mystical, accompanied by a slightly disturbing feeling that Destiny is following close upon the heels of Mary Poppins' sensible shoes when she arrives - out of the blue - on the front doorstep of 17 Cherry Tree Lane and that, as a result, life for the children, Jane and Michael, will never be quite the same again...

“How did you come?” Jane asked. “It looked just as if the wind blew you here.”

“It did.” Said Mary Poppins briefly. And she proceeded to unwind her muffler from her neck and to take off her hat, which she hung on one of the bedposts…

For Jane and Michael - and the reader - the magic is just beginning…

Visit my ‘Ex Libris’blog to read more about Miss Poppins and reminiscences of various encounters with her creator, Pamela Travers.